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Play on | Residential Why musicians, dancers . and singers are pumped

‘up about the next 16 days &

\NEWS A5

Terrace emergency shelter opens room in sombre but celebratory fashion | \COMMUNITY E Bt

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Iced teams —

Visiting rinks sweep away

locals in 50th anniversary |

Nj of the Logger’s Bonspiel gi \SPORTS B4 ©

$1.00 PLUS 7¢:GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST | ‘outside of the Terrace area)

VOL. 17. NO.. 5

should all or part of those loans ever be repaid.

Other information :in the annual report indicates.

the credit, union’s ‘assets fell to $45.2 million from - $49.5 million the year before.

But the assets under the control of the credit union’s' financial planning section grew from $7.6 million to $11.7 million. .°

» The credit union board. asked to be placed under voluntary supervision in February. Alan Clark, the provincial government’s chief credit union: watch- dog through. his position as the superintendent of credit unions at the Financial Institutions Commis- sion, said it is not unusual for credit unions to ask for financial and other assistance when needed,

“There. are two kinds of supervision, involun- tary: and voluntary,” said Clark last week. “I want _to stress'that this is.a voluntary Supervision. This is "a solvent.credit union. There should.be no concern ' whatsoever that deposits are at risk,” "9° i

‘THE TERRACE and District Credit Union has placed. itself under the supervision of the central provincial credit union after suffering a rocky financial year.

Information prepared and presented by’ general ./-. manager Val Gauvin in the credit union’s 2004 re- «port indicates it is ificreasing its loan loss allowance -to $400,000. “The reality of the decline ir real estate values’ combined with continued closure of small. busi- nesses in 2004 led to the Provision of a $400,000 - loan allowance on this year’s balance sheet,’ ’ Gauvin’ wrote. “In spite of improving margins and reducing ” operating costs, an allowance of this size has put our | credit union in a loss position for this year.” Gauvin did add the credit union’s capital base re- mains strong at 12.4 per cent of deposits, which is ore t than the 8 per cent minimum requirement. Although it.is recorded:as a loss, the $400, 000 moved out iby. the credit union to act as a cushion - 1S “could ‘return. in. some > fashion «

o www.terracestandard.com

_ The credit union boatd.n made the request for vol- Si

Credit union under. Supervision

untary supervision to the Financial Institutions Com- : mission which then delegated the task to the Stabi-~ lization Central Credit Union of B .C., an agency of _ the Central Credit Union of B.C.» . _ Joe Corsbie, the chief executive. officer of the’ "Credit Union Central of B.C., said the declining - economy of the past,years in the northwest has

played a role in the Terrace, and District, Credit

Union’s position. . “House prices have fallen and:some people have’ moved out of the community. Some people are: not

paying back the loans that they owe,” he said,

Corsbie said the central credit,union body has one

or two credit unions under supervision at'any one time. There are four in this position right now — Ter- race and District, one in the Okanagan and two in the lower mainland. °

” BEeEEE oo News of the credit union coming under supervi- sion, comes at the same time as: S its. general manager,

Val Gauvin, has gone on paid Icave. Clark ‘of the Financial Institutions Commission

has confirmed that it will be conducting an admin- -

istrative hearing in Vancouver.’ He described the; connection. between the credit union coming under supervision and the hearing as “tenuous.”

“You could say it was from information that [came after the credit union came under voluntary s supervi-

sion,” Clark said.

As for:the hearing itself, Clark said he can do two,

things under his regulatory authority.

“I can say, ‘don’t do this,’ or ‘you'r Te not. st suitable ms for the position,’ or ‘stop what you’ re doing without _ «a hearing,’ or the. other thing I’m allowed to do is send a letter saying 1 intend to issue an:order and to ..

give someone 14 days to come down and convince me not to do that,” said Clark. Gauvin’s ‘position has been filled, for. now, ‘by

; Don Huie, who was brought in by the board and pro- :

vided by the parent credit union body.

Wednesdoy April 6, 2005 | -

won't stop °

because the units will be beside each other.

Rising costs

ER fix-up —

By ROD-LINK

_ HEALTH OFFICIALS say a plan to renovate Mills Memorial:

Hospital’s ER and to move jts-intensive care unit will go

.7+-ahead despite an increase in construction.costs. . ...2. wag!

“Northern Health Authority chair Jeff Burghardt. said it

' will find the money for the project which has risen to an | estimated $1.9 million from an original price tag of $1.2 mil- _

lion.

“We are struggling with costs but we are going ahead,” . ~ he said. “We feel very good about the-costing for the project in

-. Terrace and for one in Prince Rupert,” said Burghardt,

The plan is to renovate the 3,000 square foot ER and to. .

.move the intensive care unit down from its second floor lo-

~- cation to a 3,000 square foot addition right next to the ER.

It means nurses. will be better able to respond to Situations

a

‘And it means at-risk patients being transferred from the

“ER to 'the ICU. won’t have to: undergo:a laborious route in-

volving taking’‘an elevator to the second floor.

The Prince Rupert Regional Hospital’s project a also in-”

volves having its intensive care unit work more effectively

.. with the ER and the day surgery unit will be moved next to _ the operating room. . ~ Itis now scheduled to cost $2. 2 million up. froma an 1 origi-

nal $1.25 million.

; Bulkley Valley. District. Hospital i in "Smithers i is to have ~ its ER and radiology areas renovated to make them more ' efficient and to.increase patient privacy. a . Burghardt said the health authority’s ability to plan capi- - tal spending beyond one year makes it easier to plan projects

and to make adjustments.

COUNCILLOR Marylin Davies is excited about Terrace’s involvement with the B.C. Lions Society's Kermode Spirit Bears in the City project. The public art campaign will see 200 painted seven-foot tall fibreglass Kermode bear statues appear in nine B.C. cities, includ-

ing Terrace, in the next year. The fundraising campaign is based on the wildly successful Orcas in the City project.*That project gener- ated more than $600,000 for the children’s charity. The City.of Terrace and local company Bear Creek Contracting have each already

to east of Houston and which is providing 40 per cent of the construction financing for the three Projects, has accepted that there will be cost increases.

The Northwest Regional Hospital District, a regional tax- . 7 "ation authority stretching from the Queen Charlotte Islands’ .

Chair Sharon Hartwell said it has already raised its 40 |

paid $4, 500 to sponsor a bear. The first painted bear will appear on city Streets this Novemeber.

: SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO -

- Sawmill sale stalled

» By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN THE SALE of the Terrace sawmill to’ the

' Terrace Lumber Compnay will. be delayed | ‘by up to a. month but company officials ‘are optimistic a June start-up date remains . possible.

The purchase of the mill was scheduled to go ahead March 31, but that deadline was extended pending a B.C. Court of Appeal decision. The court ruling relates to how allocation costs of the land associated with New Skeena’s assets were determined by the court-appointed receiver.. \

. The appeal was launched by the City of Prince Rupert, which argued the methods used by the receiver did not. take into ac- count the costs of cleaning up environmental damage at the Watson Island pulp mill site.

A decision to allow the appeal was made

‘March 31. And while it means receiver Lar-

ry Prentice has to review how those costs are

determined, he said it shouldn’t adversely af-

fect the closure of the sale of the mill here. “The bottom line is we had to wait for

’ this decision to know for sure how we are

going forward,” Prentice said. “My. understanding is [Terrace Lumber Company officials} are ready to close almost

literally as soon as we have the court ap-

proval,” Prentice said last week.

“Always depending on the availability of the judge, I would think we will probably — be in court before the middle of April and I

- would fully expect that we would close the -

sale shortly thereafter.”

The mill is. expected to cost TLC i in the range of $4 million, company officials said. .

And though the executive is dissappointed with the delay, it will forge ahead with plans to start up operations this coming June. .

“We are optimistic that it won’t interefere too terribly with our plans,” said TLC board chariman John Ryan.

Company president and CEO Mo Takhar,

said the delay does mean he will have to. hold

off on hiring his team of senior managers. The board had planned to start hiring its: Management team, including supervisory

positions such as quality control, fibre sup-

ply and mill coordinator, Takhar said. -

Once the sale is complete, those positions will be filled. -

And officials are continuing their efforts to secure a fibre supply and find a place to dispose of their wood chips.

“We are working with Kalum Ventures -and the Kitselas,” Takhar said.

Continued Page A2

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School energy plan gets a boost

THE SCHOOL. district received $400,000 yesterday —

as part of an incentive plan which has seen it introduce energy-savings products i into the 35 schools and buildings

. under its control.

The money from B.C. ‘Hydro and the federal Natural Resources Canada department fits in with the $2.9 mil-_

lion energy savings program developed by the Coast

Mountains School District in 1 partnership with Honeywell. ' tation announcement.

Canada.

- School ‘district officials ‘anticipate saving at least $333,000 a year in heating and lighting costs and have calculated an eight-year payback period, says secretary treasurer Marcel Georges.

_ “And Honeywell is guaranteeing the savings, 80 itsa

_ good deal for us,” he said last week.

The savings, once the school district pays back the

“money it borrowed for the project, will then be put into

education, Georges added.

“If we can do it in less than eight years, that’s great, too. The $400,000 we received will help pay the project down faster so we can use the savings even faster.”

The work included installing energy-efficient lighting,

‘improving insulation. and installing automated facility

controls with the- -goal of cutting hydro and natural gas

‘bills.

School district officials estimate that 14, 000 hours of employment was provided.

The school district has also been nominated for a. B.C. Hydro Power Smart award. ~ Winners will be announced ‘ next month, ,

‘Officials from Honeywell Canada and B.C. Hydro were at yesterday’s cheque presen- B.C." Hydro’s cheque was worth $220,000 and Natural Re- sources Canada’s cheque was ° worth $178,980.

“Coast Mountains School - District should be very proud Marcel of its accomplishments and Georges |

the.energy and environmental leadership it has shown in the region,” said Honeywell official Luis Rodrigues. . The school district was spending approximately 1.8 million a year in heating and lighting costs even before the general increase in B.C. Hydro rates and soaring natu- — ral gas costs. School district officials tumbled to the idea of a wide- spread energy savings program after touring Richmond | _ schools to see what its district had done. The savings were impressive enough, said Georges,

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